Tess's Trials Page 5

  “Howdy,” Rafe said, his lips turned up at the corners in what passed for a smile with him. “I’m Rafe Brannon, Tess’s cousin. Wondered if I could talk to you for a few minutes?”

  The man pushed himself up on his bunk, his face revealing the pain it cost him. “Howdy. I’m Buck. Reckon I can spare a few minutes. I don’t have much else planned right now.”

  Rafe decided he liked this man. Tough, likely a hard worker who rode for the brand.

  “You got shot?” Buck nodded, and Rafe went on. “Know how that feels. I’ve been shot three times. Every one of ‘em felt like the Devil himself pushed a hot rod through me.”

  “That’s right. They only got me once, but that’s plenty.” He pointed to his upper chest where a white bandage covered the wound. “Knocked me off the bed, so th’ other shots went high.” He shook his head this time. “Lucky. Just pure, dumb luck.”

  “Sometimes that’s all that counts.” Rafe took a breath. “You see what happened to Tess?”

  “No. Just heard about it from the boys when they got here.” He grinned. “One of ‘em told me Miss Tess got three of ‘em before they took her.”

  “Three of ‘em?” Rafe whistled. “I knew Tess was tough, but three?”

  “Yep. Right proud of my boss.”

  “Tess is your boss? Not your boss’s wife?”

  “Nope. She’s the boss.” He squirmed a little, pain darkening his face. “It’s her ranch, after all.”

  That put a new twist on Tess being gone. Rafe noticed Buck grimaced with pain again. “You all right to go on a little more?”

  “Yeah,” the cowboy said, relaxing again.

  “Edward told me the boys looked for Tess for a while. What can you tell me about that?”

  Buck hesitated, squinted his eyes at Rafe. “You want me to talk freely?”

  “Yeah. Nothin’ goes outta this room.”

  After another hesitation, Buck said, “Yeah, the boys looked for Miss Tess. For almost two days. Then Edward told ‘em to stop and get back to th’ spring count. A couple of the boys wanted to keep lookin’, but Edward told ‘em they either get back to th’ count, or find another job.” He sagged a little with that.

  Rafe stepped back then. “You rest now. Thanks for the information.” With that, he left the bunkhouse and walked back to the porch.

  Edward still sat in the rocker. Rafe climbed the steps and stood in front of his cousin-in-law.

  “How’s Buck doin’?” Edward asked.

  “He’s all right. Told me somethin’ interestin’. Said Tess killed three of the men who came to take her.”

  “Yeah. Shot two of ‘em with a shotgun. We found them just inside the door to the kitchen. Another one was on the kitchen floor, a knife in his throat.” Edward sounded proud, but also disbelieving.

  “When did you find out what had happened?”

  “We came in that same day about lunch time. I’d left a couple of things, so we came back in to get ‘em. Soon’s I figgered out what happened, I sent for the rest of the boys.” His voice changed, sounding defensive now. “We did what we could to try to find her. After all, she was my wife.”

  Rafe noticed he spoke of Tess in the past tense. It was harder and harder for him to keep on giving Edward the benefit of the doubt.

  “I’m gonna see what I can see tomorrow. Too dark now to do anything. If you don’t mind, I’ll put my horse up in the barn and bed down in the bunkhouse.” He paused, waiting for Edward to offer a bed in the main house.

  Didn’t happen.

  Rafe went on. “You want to go with me tomorrow? I know your hands are out doin’ the count, but what about you?”

  “Sure would like to, but …” Edward shifted in the rocker, a wince of pain flitting across his face. “Hurt my back and leg lookin’ for Tess. Wouldn’t be any good to you. No good at all.”

  Rafe nodded. “Sure. I’ll go put up my horse. I’ll get started by first light.”

  Chapter Nine

  Snake Eyes watched Tess walk away from his tent, escorted by another of the men. This one was different from all the other women he’d taken. He was used to screaming, even fighting to keep him from doing what he wanted. Not so with this one.

  To begin with, she came with him without complaint. Even held her head up as she walked to the tent. Once inside, no screaming or fighting.

  What was up with her? Why was she like this? Didn’t she understand what was happening, what was going to happen to her?

  Snake Eyes lit a cigar as he pondered all this. This one was a little older than most of the women he took. Usually, he just shot the older ones. After all, the greasers wanted young girls, just like most men did, and they paid better for them.

  Why did he even take this one? He knew what she looked like and that she wasn’t young. His contact had told him that before the raid. But he took her anyway.

  After a few puffs on the cigar, Snake Eyes knew why he took Tess. He wanted to make this last raid and get down to Mexico, get paid, and get out of this business. Otherwise, he would’ve passed up that ranch completely and found some young girls to take.

  Thinking about his time with the woman, Snake Eyes smiled. At least as much as he ever smiled. Not a lot more than just an upturn of the ends of his lips.

  This woman was different. A little older, more wise to the ways of the world, maybe more mature. Maybe she knew what he did wasn’t much different from what men did with their wives. The women just weren’t volunteers, they didn’t have any choice.

  He faced what he’d come to realize. He liked this woman. Liked her more than any woman he’d taken before. Most of the time before, he didn’t even consider how he felt about any woman, he just took her to satisfy himself. Then he would basically throw her away after he was finished. Give her to his men. Then sell her.

  But not this one. Oh, he’d sell her for sure. That wouldn’t change. He needed the money to get what he wanted.

  He wouldn’t give this one to his men, though. No, he wanted her for himself as long as they traveled. Best to get that settled right now.

  “Breed!” he yelled. “Where are you?”

  “Here, Jefe! On my way!”

  Whitehorse hurried up to Snake Eyes in front of the tent. He was probably the only one of the men who didn’t help himself to any of the women they took. When Snake Eyes asked about that some time before, he told his boss it just didn’t seem right to him to steal the women and then take advantage of them.

  As soon as the breed stood in front of him, Snake Eyes explained what he wanted. “That woman I just had in here?”

  The breed glanced at Tess climbing back into the wagon. Turning back to his boss, he nodded.

  “I want her all to myself. No one else can take her. Make sure all the men understand that.” He puffed on the cigar and gazed toward the wagon where Tess sat.

  “I will do so, Jefe.” Whitehorse still stood in front of the tent.

  Snake Eyes noticed he stayed where he was. “Something else, Breed?”

  If Whitehorse didn’t like being called ‘Breed’, he never let it show with Snake Eyes. “Yes, Jefe. The little one,” he waved toward the wagon where the women stayed, “who never sits up. All she does is lay on her side. Never talks, only eats or drinks if one of the other women makes her. I don’t think she will let herself live.”

  Snake Eyes looked back over at the wagon and puffed on his cigar as he thought. “We could shoot her, I suppose. But then we’d be one woman short and have to raid another ranch.” He turned back to Whitehorse. “We don’t need to do any more raids right now. We need to lay low. Our luck could run out any time. No, we won’t shoot her.”

  They both thought for another moment.

  “Jefe?” Whitehorse ventured. When Snake Eyes nodded, he went on. “This is most likely a poor idea, but what if we give her to the youngster? He would listen if you tell him to be gentle with her.”

  Snake Eyes pondered this another moment as he stared at Whitehorse. Just when the bree
d started to open his mouth to apologize, Snake Eyes said, “Good idea. Set it up with the youngster.” As Whitehorse started off, Snake Eyes said, “And be sure to tell all the men about that other woman.” Going back into his tent, Snake Eyes realized, Even though I like this woman and she’ll be mine exclusively, I have to watch her. She is like the coyote, always looking for some way to get what she wants.

  Tess walked away from Snake Eyes’ tent almost in a daze. She couldn’t think right then. Not really. And about all she felt was numb. Like her whole body went to sleep. Numb and ashamed. She’d done what the man wanted, let him do what he did. She knew that was the best way to handle what happened. But that didn’t keep her from feeling shame that she didn’t somehow resist or fight or scream. Or something.

  But she knew she wasn’t completely numb. She saw everything around the camp very clearly. Everything had sharp edges, it seemed.

  And she heard everything around the camp, also. The laughter of some of the men sitting around their fires rang out in spurts. Snorts from the horses and the stamp of a hoof to get rid of a fly. She smelled the smoke from the fires and the stink of fresh horse apples.

  Around it all, the screams of the women being violated in other tents.

  Once back at the wagon, she felt the rough planks under her body when she crawled in and lay down. She also felt the stares of the other women. They knew what had happened to her. Knew what she’d said about not fighting back. About accepting the inevitable.

  Now they watched her to see how she’d react.

  Tess lay down with her back to them so they wouldn’t see her tears. She wanted to curl into a ball like the youngster, Bessie. But she wouldn’t allow herself to do that.

  No – she had to appear strong. For herself as well as for the others. Silently, she gathered all the strength she had from deep inside. All the strength she’d inherited from her Grandfather Brannon. All the strength she used to make her ranch what it was today. All the strength she’d need to escape and get back to that ranch. They needed her to be strong so they wouldn’t lose hope. She had to be strong so she wouldn’t lose hope.

  Hope. There was always hope until they arrived at their final destination. Always a chance that somewhere along the way the men would make a mistake, let down their guard,

  close their eyes at the right time.

  So, she wouldn’t give up hope. She would work at being strong.

  And it would take work. There was so much to handle, so much to overcome. Not only the indisputable fact of her captivity, of the burden she felt for the other women. The feelings also loomed large.

  Like right now.

  Tess struggled with the fact she had been with another man. Not voluntarily, certainly. But of her own volition in a way. She didn’t try to fight him, to prevent what happened in any way. Didn’t scream, didn’t faint when he put his hands on her.

  Did that make her as guilty as him for what happened? Should she have fought? Was she wrong in what she told the other women?

  As she lay there and thought about it, she realized, no – she wasn’t wrong. What happened would have happened anyway. She, and they, couldn’t hope to fight these men. Fighting only made it worse. She, and they, must stay strong, healthy so they could take advantage of any small chance to escape that came their way.

  And stay healthy to face the awful trials of getting back home when they did escape.

  So, she would deal with the emotions. If necessary, push them away to bring out at another, safe time and face them then.

  In the meantime, she would be strong. For the others, but mostly for herself.

  Wiping away tears with the sleeve of her dress, Tess took a deep breath and sat up facing the others.

  Off in the west, lightning lit up mountain passes. Many seconds later, thunder grumbled through the arroyos and across the prairie to finally tickle Tess’s ears.

  Chapter Ten

  Before sunrise was anything more than a thought in anyone’s mind, Rafe Brannon tightened the cinch on his horse’s saddle. A lantern hanging on one of the stalls in the barn gave him enough light to see what he did. After so many years of saddling horses, he hardly needed the light.

  It still puzzled him why Edward didn’t seem to be too upset over Tess being taken. He didn’t know a lot about their relationship. About all he did know was how happy Tess had been three years before when they married. Since then, he heard little from her.

  That wasn’t unusual. The family didn’t stay in close touch. Most lived in places scattered around the West. Rafe himself didn’t have a fixed home. He enjoyed wandering the country, seeing what he could see, working when he needed money.

  Rafe had always been the one in the family with wanderlust. The first time he left home, he was ten years old. After six months, an uncle found him living in the woods five or six miles from his house. He told that uncle he didn’t like Arkansas and didn’t like farming. But he’d go back and stay until he was man enough to live on his own. Brought back home, Rafe stayed another six years, then left for good.

  He had not been back since.

  When he had the horse saddled now, he led the buckskin out of the barn, tied him to the corral. After a glance at the still-dark main house, he walked to the bunkhouse to get the rest of his gear. Buck turned over in his bunk as Rafe entered.

  “You headin’ out to look for Miss Tess?” he asked, propping himself up on one elbow.

  “Yeah. Somebody’s got to.” He strode over to the bunk he’d used. “It don’t look like Edward’s goin’ to do much more.”

  “Wish I could go with you.” Buck lowered himself back onto his bunk, pain clear on his face.

  Rafe turned to him as he picked up his gear. “Wouldn’t mind havin’ you along. But I work better alone. You just lay up an’ get healed up. I’ll go find Tess an’ bring her back.”

  “You do that,” Buck said, conviction strong in his voice. “I’ll work for her, but not for him. You don’t find her, I’m gone soon’s I can ride.”

  Rafe nodded once, then left. Outside, he tied his gear behind the saddle. After he shoved his Winchester into the saddle scabbard, he mounted and walked his buckskin out of the ranch yard.

  He rode for a half mile to the point where he knew Tess’s captors had left the road to the ranch and cut across country. Edward said his ranch hands followed this trail for several miles before losing it in some rough country.

  Rafe didn’t question the ability of the men to follow the trail. He knew they would’ve stayed on it unless pulled off. And that’s exactly what Edward did. Pulled his men off the trail.

  Rafe put the disbelief and anger toward Edward in the back of his mind and concentrated on the trail he followed. For the several miles the men had followed Tess’s trail, it showed clearly in the dim pre-dawn light. It took little time to reach the spot where they lost the trail.

  He dismounted there on the rocks to wait for daylight. He didn’t want to miss what

  might be a very small sign that pointed him in the direction Tess had been taken. Once the sun

  came up, the smallest signs could show up.

  Leaning back on one elbow, Rafe waited.

  This was one of his favorite times of the day. Things just waking up. Birds singing, and the rest of the day creatures beginning to stir as the night creatures began finding bedding spots. Everything seemed fresh and cool like the Earth had been given a new day to see if it could do something good with it.

  Less than half an hour later, the light grew to the point of being enough for him to use to find the trail again. Back on his feet, Rafe slowly looked over the ground in front of him. Sometimes in that kind of light a trail invisible in full sun would show up. The angle of the early sunlight would show where someone rode or even walked. In the morning light that slanted across the land, those small signs that could be missed later in the day would be highlighted.

  He picked up what appeared to be tracks headed south. As he led his horse, Rafe slowly followed th
e tracks over the rocky place. Here and there in the dirt between rocks he saw partial tracks. On the rocks themselves, scars showed where horses’ hoofs had hit them.

  For another hour, Rafe followed the tracks. Probably a hundred yards past the rocks, there was more prairie, making for easier tracking. There, he found the wagon tracks.

  He tied his buckskin to a spindly sapling and walked along the wagon tracks. He wanted to sort out as much as he could about who he followed. There appeared to be three wagons, all heavily loaded. The hoofprints of several horses showed apart from the wagon tracks. He couldn’t tell exactly how many riders were with the wagons, but there appeared to be at least ten.

  Rafe stood and faced the direction it appeared the wagons were traveling. South,

  toward Mexico. They had to be connected to the men who took Tess. No one else would have wagons in this area. All of the ranch hands should be further east and a little north. That was one thing he learned from Buck as they talked last night. They were the only other ones who would have wagons with them.

  It made sense that the man would have wagons to carry the women he took. At least one wagon would be a chuck wagon with as many men as there seemed to be with the wagons. That left probably two wagons. At least one carried women and girls.

  Rafe didn’t worry about the number of men he suspected riding with the wagons. He wasn’t going to attack them; that would only lead to him being filled with hot lead. Not something he wanted to happen. Instead, he planned on following and catching up with the wagons. Then, he’d watch and figure out first if Tess was there and then find a way to sneak her out and away from the wagons. If he could, he’d bring the other women with her. But Tess was of most importance to him.

  No need to wait any longer , he told himself. Th’ longer I wait here, th’ further away they get.

  He strode back to his horse. After checking the cinch on his saddle, he mounted and kneed the buckskin along the wagon tracks.

  The sun grew warmer on his back as he rode along. He had no trouble following the tracks. The wagons seemed to be heavily loaded so their tracks cut deeply into the soil. Every once in a while, he glanced toward the west where large clouds were building as the day heated up. If they developed into storms and came his way, they could wipe out the tracks he needed to follow.